Railway-rail joint.



J. G. WALLACE,

RAILWAY RAIL JOINT.

APPLIOATIONIILED FEB25, 1914.

1,132,232, Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

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f1 Mom m 'rnn JAMES C. WALLACE, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

RAILWAY-RAIL JOINT.

Application filed February 25, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMns C. WALLACE, citizen of the United States, residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Rail Joints; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railway rail joints, my object being to provide a joint of this class which shall be exceedingly simple in construction, reliable, and eliicient in use.

My improved joint consists of a metal member adapted to receive the adjacent extremities of the rail, the metal member being so constructed as to embrace both the base and web of the adjacent rail extremities. The central portion of the device, between the ends of the rails employed to form the joint, is equipped with an abutment of the same size and shape as the rails, and against which the extremities of the rails abut.

The device as shown in the drawing is equipped with a removable angle-shaped member which, when the parts are assembled, engages one of the rails on one side, being secured in place by suitable fastening devices. This angle member is placed in position and displaced by a longitudinal movement, as the base of the device constituting the oint is provided with a rib or lip which prevents the movement of the removable member in a lateral direction.

The integral metal device included in the joint has relatively large openings formed in its upper members, whereby the heads of the fastening devices may pass therethrough and directly engage the base of the rails in the formation of the joint. However, the openings for the fastening devices in the removable member are of less area, and do not permit the heads of the fastening devices to pass through, since these fastening devices must be relied upon to maintain the removable angle-member in place.

Having briefly outlined my improved construction, I will proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Serial No. azasoo.

accompanying drawing, in which is illus trated an embodiment thereof.

In this drawing,-Figure 1 is a top plan view of a rail joint of my improved construction. Fig. 2 is a similar view, with the removable part of the joint displaced. Furthermore, in this view only one of the rail extremities is illustrated. Figs. 3, l, and are cross-sections taken on the lines 33, 47-1, and 5-5, respectively, of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the body member of the joint, shown in detail. Fig. g is a similar View of the detachable mem- The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the views.

Let the numeral 5 designate what I will term the body member of my improved rail joint. This member consists of a bed plate 6 which is provided on one side with an angle part 7, which is first bent, as shown at 8, at the outer edge of the bed plate, and pressed down closely upon the said bed plate, as shown at 9. This part 9 extends inwardly to engagement with the outer edge of the base 10 of the rail on one side. From this point 12, the part 7 extends upwardly, as shown at 13, in an inclined plane conforming to the inclination of the base of the rail. The inner extremity of the part 13 extends to the web l of the rail, and from this point 15 the angle member extends upwardly in engagement with the web of the rail on one side, as shown at 16. On one side the angle member 7, which has just been described in detail, extends the entire length of the bed plate 6, while on the opposite side an angle member 17 of substantially the same construction extends a little more than half of the length of the bed plate. The various parts of the angle members 7 and 17 are substantially identical, and may be given corresponding reference characters. The vertical rail-web-engaging part 16 of the two members 7 and 17 are spaced, as shown at 18, to receive the web of the rail at one end of the device; the rail extremity being inserted in an endwise direction.

Centrally located of the body of the joint is an abutment 19, as indicated in the drawing, which is formed integral with the body of the device, and is in the path of the extremities of the rails, which approach each other to form the joint. The rail ends relength of the portion of one rail which is emp eyed in" formi g the joint- 7 parts are assembled, this space is occupied the rail on one side, and an'ofiiset 23 adaptedspectively abut against the-opposite eirtremi- I ties of the abutment 19 when the parts are assembled to form the joint. 7

At one extremity the body member is open on one side a distance equal to the When the by an angle-shaped member 20 which is provided with a vertical web-engaging part 21, a part 22 adapted toengage the base of to engage the, outer edge of the rail base. Beyond'the offset 23, the angle member 20 is provided with a horizontally disposed part 24 which extends outwardly into'abut ting relation with the inner'surface of a rib or lipj25, against which theouter edge26 of" the a gle member 20 fits closely. By

when thepartsare assembled, to form the complete joint. By virtue of the employi ment of this removable member 20, it becomes'practicable to remove one rail of the joint, and substitute another rail, sincewhen the angle member 20- is displaced, the rail to' be removed will be permitted first sulficient lateral movementto, remove it from theline of the joint, after, which it may be 'moved longitudinally a, suiii o ient distance to displace it fromthe opposite joint,

' In the parts 9 and 13 of the angle por- 'tions of the body of the joint, are'formed relatively large openings 27wliich are of sufiicientsize to permit the; heads 28 of the bolts, lock screws, or other suitable fastening devices, to passtherethrough and engage the outer edgeof the base ofthel rail.

both against longitudinal and lateral movement. The lateral. movement is prevented by reason of the factthat. the shanks of the fastening devices occupy positions. in engagement with the outer edges of the flanges of the base of the rail. 1 1

The removable angle member20 is. pro-. .vided with openings'29 adapted to receive the shanks 30 of the fastening devices.3l.

' Theseopenings arenotlarge enough toiper- Copies 'p ft his patent may. be qttaineq for virtue of this constructiom the member 20. must be insertedjin an endwisedirection By virtue of this construction, the heads 28 v of the fastening devices are adapted to bear directly uponthebases of the rails, whereby L the latter are more securely held in place, j

mit the heads-of the fastening devices to pass therethrough. These headsare relied uponto'maintain the angle member 20 in its proper relative position in the formation of-the'joint, Both sets of fastening devices 28 and 31- pass through registering openings in the bed plate 6, and enter the ties*32,

which may be of any suitable construction In the drawinglit is assumed that these ties are composed of wood,

VVheremyimproved joint is. used nection with electric railway systems, in which the electric current passes'through' the rails, I equip the bed plate 6 withqcopper rivets 33 On oppositesides of the'center of the joint, beyond; the abutting ends of the rails. By virtue'ofv the location Qff these in iconcopper rivets, the rails maybe forced tightly against the same, and the currentwillpass readily through. the'bed plate from one of these rivets t0 the other, thus bridging the spaces between the adjacent extremities of the rails, and rendering an interruption of the circuit at these points impossible Having described my invention, what I claim is:'

railway rail joint, comprising a device shapedto conform'to the shape of .thebase and web of the rail ends to be joined, and

open at both endsto'receive the. rails, the said device being composed of two members, namely, a body member and a, removable angle member, the latter being of a length outer edge of the removable angle member equal to that of oneof the iIlQlQSed, rail ends, the bed plate of the bodyof the device eX- tending underneath the angle member and having a rib at its outer-edge whi h the engages, thebody-of the device having a centrally located, fixed. abutment conform In testimony whereof I aflix' my signature in presence oftwowitnesses,

JAMES CL WALLACE. Witnesses: j V 7 I i -MAZE KIRBY, A. EBERT VOBRIENJ v five cents each, by addressing, the ftom ni ssither of Patents,

Washington, D. C. a 7 

